Vogts unhappy with Faroe Isles venue
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Your support makes all the difference.The Scotland manager Berti Vogts has criticised the Faroe Isles' choice of venue for their opening Euro 2004 qualifier.
Vogts will be taking his team to the run-down Totfir stadium, where the defender Matt Elliott was dismissed in the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign. Scotland were hoping to play in the new stadium in Torshavn on 7 September, but the Faroes are adamant that ground will not be ready until April 2003 when Germany visit, despite staging their friendly against Liechtenstein at the new stadium next week.
Vogts said: "A lot of Scottish fans will go to the Faroes and we have to ask why the Germans will be allowed to play in the new stadium which is only five minutes from the hotel when we will have to travel by boat, or maybe swim, to our game in Toftir.
"Maybe the Germans have made a big TV contract with the Faroe Isles for their game, I don't know, I'm only the coach. Maybe the Faroes are thinking that last time Scotland played there it was 1-1 and the Scots had a player sent off."
The general secretary of the Faroes' football association, Isak Makladal, insists he cannot understand the problem. "We are playing Liechtenstein at the new ground but there will be only about 800 fans and very few media people," he said. "It is also likely that we will play Germany there next year. But it is up to us as hosts to choose the venues and not the right of our guests."
Vogts, meanwhile, is looking for a midfielder to emerge who can help end Scotland's goalscoring drought. The players in his 24-man squad for next Wednesday's friendly against Denmark and the qualifier against the Faroes boast just 12 goals between them. From those selected, the West Ham defender Christian Dailly remains the country's leading goalscorer with three.
Vogts admitted: "When Rainer Bonhof [Under-21 coach] came here he asked me about the goals and I told him: 'That's Scottish football – sorry.'
"We especially need a guy in midfield who can come forward and is looking for goals and can score goals," the German added. "Look at Michael Ballack – he is a midfielder but he scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga and three in the World Cup. They were very important goals. I have to change the system a little bit and tell them to play the ball forward."
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